Transcendent moments to build on
Greetings from the league office as we wrap an historic 2009 season and look forward to 2010!
The last few weeks, including an incredible Cinderella story and an amazing display of all-star talent, really put a bow on a successful inaugural season that met its goal of matching up the world’s best, week after week. Our fans, sponsors, and national and regional television partners truly helped set a solid foundation for years to come, even in the most challenging financial climate many of us have ever experienced. The first big step of the 2010 season is upon us with Tuesday’s expansion draft, when newcomers Philadelphia Independence and Atlanta Beat will start filling their rosters, but many transcendent moments from 2009 will stay with me.
First, of course, I have to mention the remarkable run of Sky Blue FC from the bottom of the standings to the top of the league. Sky Blue’s perseverance through two mid-season coaching changes and a host of injuries, and the tenacity they showed in winning three postseason road games against favored opponents, gave testament to the league’s any-given-day parity and could prove inspirational for our two newcomers next year. WPS Final MVP Heather O’Reilly and player-coach Christie Rampone were two of the biggest weapons for Sky Blue as they held off the regular-season powerhouse L.A. Sol in the championship despite efforts from players like Shannon Boxx, who scrapped for every 50-50 ball in a determined attempt to bring her team back. I’m already looking forward to a rematch between these two teams next year; it’s one of many budding rivalries that took shape over the last few months.
A week after the championship, the inaugural All-Star Game presented by the Coast Guard gave rivalries a break in favor of teamwork as the WPS crew came from behind to defeat Swedish champion Umea IK, 4-2. It was such a pleasure to watch the fast-developing chemistry of the WPS team, assembled by voting from fans, players, coaches, media and final input from myself and All-Star head coach Abner Rogers. The players were all smiles after pre-game practices; I heard comment after comment about the joy of playing with such an amazing assembly of talent. (Many made a special note of how much fun they had playing with Marta, who had such a good time she labeled the event a “party game.”) And Christine Sinclair’s standout performance in the game was certainly something she’ll be able to build on next year. Personally, it was the first game of the season where I could root for one team without reservation, and I didn’t hold anything back. Like everyone else, I came out of my seat for the game’s many highlights.
It was a great honor to help fill out the roster, but it was a genuinely tough assignment. A true measure of the league’s depth can be found in the superb players whose names we left off: one example is Sky Blue FC forward Natasha Kai, who battled through a worsening shoulder injury to showcase some all-star performances over the season’s second half.
Speaking of the second half, the league as a whole really built great momentum over the last few months. Attendance trended upward from Week 17 on, with impressive turnouts for many of the games with major playoff implications (the Sol’s Aug. 9 visit to Boston, for instance, drew over 7,000 fans). Our flagship sponsor, Puma, was joined by MedImmune, who sponsored the WPS Championship, and the U.S. Coast Guard, which sponsored the WPS All-Star game. Fox Sports Net and the Fox Soccer Channel averaged 32,000 households (approximately 41,000 viewers) for our national broadcasts – with some drawing over 100,000 to 132,000 viewers – and Comcast Sports Net, NBC Universal and St. Louis’s KPLR did a great job with regional and local coverage as well.
But all of these things didn’t just fall into place. The team owners and their respective staffs were wonderful, talented, hard-working colleagues who helped build seven distinctive, unique franchises. And I owe a special thanks to the members of the league staff who have put in so many long, devoted hours to help turn an idea into a world-class product: Without the total commitment by staff we simply would not have established WPS, and I am so proud to call them teammates.
And now we move forward. Our two expansion franchises will truly begin to take shape in Tuesday’s expansion draft with talent we hope will make them immediately competitive. And they’ll each get the rights to 5 more world-class players in the Sept. 22 international draft.
Those are great developments for 2010, but we’re also looking to enhance the league’s strengths and – more importantly – get your input on what we can improve. Send us your thoughts on anything from your game-day experience to our TV coverage to our online presence to our playoff structure by emailing feedback@womensprosoccer.com. Between your feedback, an economy on the upswing, the involvement and accessibility of our great athletes off the field with fans and the continued influx of elite talent, we have great hopes for bigger and brighter things in the year to come!
The last few weeks, including an incredible Cinderella story and an amazing display of all-star talent, really put a bow on a successful inaugural season that met its goal of matching up the world’s best, week after week. Our fans, sponsors, and national and regional television partners truly helped set a solid foundation for years to come, even in the most challenging financial climate many of us have ever experienced. The first big step of the 2010 season is upon us with Tuesday’s expansion draft, when newcomers Philadelphia Independence and Atlanta Beat will start filling their rosters, but many transcendent moments from 2009 will stay with me.
First, of course, I have to mention the remarkable run of Sky Blue FC from the bottom of the standings to the top of the league. Sky Blue’s perseverance through two mid-season coaching changes and a host of injuries, and the tenacity they showed in winning three postseason road games against favored opponents, gave testament to the league’s any-given-day parity and could prove inspirational for our two newcomers next year. WPS Final MVP Heather O’Reilly and player-coach Christie Rampone were two of the biggest weapons for Sky Blue as they held off the regular-season powerhouse L.A. Sol in the championship despite efforts from players like Shannon Boxx, who scrapped for every 50-50 ball in a determined attempt to bring her team back. I’m already looking forward to a rematch between these two teams next year; it’s one of many budding rivalries that took shape over the last few months.
A week after the championship, the inaugural All-Star Game presented by the Coast Guard gave rivalries a break in favor of teamwork as the WPS crew came from behind to defeat Swedish champion Umea IK, 4-2. It was such a pleasure to watch the fast-developing chemistry of the WPS team, assembled by voting from fans, players, coaches, media and final input from myself and All-Star head coach Abner Rogers. The players were all smiles after pre-game practices; I heard comment after comment about the joy of playing with such an amazing assembly of talent. (Many made a special note of how much fun they had playing with Marta, who had such a good time she labeled the event a “party game.”) And Christine Sinclair’s standout performance in the game was certainly something she’ll be able to build on next year. Personally, it was the first game of the season where I could root for one team without reservation, and I didn’t hold anything back. Like everyone else, I came out of my seat for the game’s many highlights.
It was a great honor to help fill out the roster, but it was a genuinely tough assignment. A true measure of the league’s depth can be found in the superb players whose names we left off: one example is Sky Blue FC forward Natasha Kai, who battled through a worsening shoulder injury to showcase some all-star performances over the season’s second half.
Speaking of the second half, the league as a whole really built great momentum over the last few months. Attendance trended upward from Week 17 on, with impressive turnouts for many of the games with major playoff implications (the Sol’s Aug. 9 visit to Boston, for instance, drew over 7,000 fans). Our flagship sponsor, Puma, was joined by MedImmune, who sponsored the WPS Championship, and the U.S. Coast Guard, which sponsored the WPS All-Star game. Fox Sports Net and the Fox Soccer Channel averaged 32,000 households (approximately 41,000 viewers) for our national broadcasts – with some drawing over 100,000 to 132,000 viewers – and Comcast Sports Net, NBC Universal and St. Louis’s KPLR did a great job with regional and local coverage as well.
But all of these things didn’t just fall into place. The team owners and their respective staffs were wonderful, talented, hard-working colleagues who helped build seven distinctive, unique franchises. And I owe a special thanks to the members of the league staff who have put in so many long, devoted hours to help turn an idea into a world-class product: Without the total commitment by staff we simply would not have established WPS, and I am so proud to call them teammates.
And now we move forward. Our two expansion franchises will truly begin to take shape in Tuesday’s expansion draft with talent we hope will make them immediately competitive. And they’ll each get the rights to 5 more world-class players in the Sept. 22 international draft.
Those are great developments for 2010, but we’re also looking to enhance the league’s strengths and – more importantly – get your input on what we can improve. Send us your thoughts on anything from your game-day experience to our TV coverage to our online presence to our playoff structure by emailing feedback@womensprosoccer.com. Between your feedback, an economy on the upswing, the involvement and accessibility of our great athletes off the field with fans and the continued influx of elite talent, we have great hopes for bigger and brighter things in the year to come!
Tags: commissioner, expansion_draft, tonya_antonucci, wps_all-star_game, wps_championship
Add a Comment
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Comment by Best Fan on October 22, 2009 at 8:42am - Folks around here wear all types of clothing with the name/logo of thier favorite sports teams, & Universities.Any chance of WPS selling "guy stuff" jerseys, sweatshirts,etc?Hope so !- I would love to have a FeedomT-shirt and sweatshirt with my favorite players name on them,and/ or a Freedom or WPS Tshirt and sweats. It would be great advertising for the league also.
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Comment by Ashton DeBoe on October 22, 2009 at 2:12am - I hope we could watch games live on our computers. There have been so many great teams play last season, but most of them I couldn't watch because they weren't broadcasted on TV. MatchTracker is okay, but watching a game live on your computer is great! I have been a bit disappointed though about all of the games that LA Sol played last season that weren't televised. Marta is my all-time favorite player and I REALLY hope they do something like this! I'm not going to stop watching WPS because of this problem, but I still do hope that we have something to watch games that aren't televised. Thanks!!
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Comment by Maria on October 5, 2009 at 1:35pm
- When will we see any German internationals playing in the WPS?
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Comment by Best Fan on October 2, 2009 at 8:22am
- Just a thought, but I would like to know what you and others think about this....I was driving to work on the DC beltway the other day(ugh!) and was,of course, at one point in slow traffic. I looked around and there were license plates with Redskins,Ravens and other sports team logos, plates with different universitiy logos,plates with logos for all sorts of things-social orgnizations,autism awarness....you get the picture.Could we get WPS license plates?...or better yet Washington Fredom plates? I know there have been bumperstickeres and decals, but License Plates with the Freedom Logo- WOW!!(ok the WPS shield would be good too!)- very cool!
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Comment by Kevin F. Yost on September 17, 2009 at 10:39am - Why is Walmart showing clips of the MLS games on the TV's in the electronics departments of their stores and not those of WPS? Will there ever be a tenth WPS team? Does the WPS and its commissioner plan to have working relationships with those of W-League and WPSL as well as the WNBA and National Pro Fastpitch (women's professional softball) as well as the two women's ice hockey leagues in Canada (Canadian Women's Hockey League and Western Women's Hockey League)?
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Comment by Allen Leroux on September 15, 2009 at 8:44pm
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Thank you for a very exciting and highly competitive first season....I look foward to another great season.
Thank you for a very exciting and highly competitive first season....As a 70 yeard old grandfather, and gruncle-in law, ex- player,and assistant coach for the Space Coast United Soccer Club our youngsters are hoping to hear that an expansion team or teams would make their home here in Florida...Although I have Multiple Sclerosis, I would drive my scooter to see a live game.
Looking forward to the new season... Game on WPS.....
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Comment by vickie smith on September 15, 2009 at 5:03pm
- live stream the drafts!!! twitterfy it! was hard to wait all day to find out who philly and Atlanta got LOL other then that very good season. Good job to all
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Comment by Espihir on September 15, 2009 at 2:33pm
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I agree with Joan, matchtracker is not even worth it. Everyone seem's to use Twitter for the games that are not televised. And games that are televised...I found it really terrible that the Super Semifinal and the Final was on a time delay for the entire east coast. Those are two games that need to be on a channel or a series of channels that everyone can access.
That is my one and only complaint of the entire season. I loved attending Sky Blue and Freedom matches and seeing all the talent. I ended up attending more WPS games than MLS games this year...than any other sporting event this year for that matter! Congratulations on a successful first year and I look forward to attending Sky Blue and Independence matches next season!!!
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Comment by Michael Kajdas on September 15, 2009 at 2:03pm - What's with all this secrecy around the expansion draft? Tony DiCicco writes in his preview of the draft "Although I cannot share with you which players are protected and unprotected, after the draft you will be able to piece it together." Well, if that's true, why not just tell us in the first place? Not all of us are crossword puzzle fans. Or are you afraid your players can't handle the truth? And now you have WPS tweeters who keep reminding us that the draft is underway but we can't hear anything about it until later in the day! What's the point of cultivating a new media following if you're just going to tease and frustrate them for the whole day? You should be glad for each and every person that is even interested in your little draft. Keep treating your fans this way and maybe we'll just stop caring.
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Comment by Commissioner Tonya Antonucci on September 15, 2009 at 10:50am - Thanks Joan, yes you can watch WPS games streamed live on your computer. We rolled this out on the WPS site at the beginning of June, featuring the Fox Soccer Channel game of the week live. Also, all of our Teams streamed at least two of their games live as well. As we get closer to next season, please check out the schedule to see which games will be offered in 2010! Cheers, Tonya
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